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Creating a design concept for a kitchen or remodeling an outdated bathroom requires an understanding of the products and services available to those looking to undertake such a project. The ProSource Podcast breaks down the home remodeling industry and highlights the merchandise and experience that it requires to achieve your vision. Join ProSource Director of Digital Marketing Content Kevin Devine, as he speaks with those who facilitate the ideal project and offer valuable information for how to choose the ideal products and services that transform your ideas into reality.
Welcome back to the Pro Source podcast.
My name is Mollie
and today we are inviting on
one of our trade pro members
from Prosource of Omaha on the podcast.
Owen Dewey.
Owen Dewey is the owner of DFC flooring.
DFC Flooring Specialist is a family owned
and operated business.
Owen’s father started the business in 1994
and Owen has joined the business
to continue their legacy of offering over
30 years of expert industry experience.
They help their clients install carpet,
vinyl, LVP and laminate flooring
professionally by certified installers
and skilled craftsmen.
Let's go ahead and welcome on
Owen onto The ProSource podcast.
So today
we have on one of our trade pro,
Owen Dewey.
He is the owner of DFC Flooring
Specialists out of Omaha, Nebraska.
Owen,
thank you so much for coming on today.
Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me.
What made you want to start
your own business?
So basically, family company.
My dad started it, actually, in 94.
We kind of traveled from, you know,
we're from Pennsylvania originally.
I travel around.
My family landed here in Omaha, and,
my dad had some experience
in carpet and flooring and in Pennsylvania
with his family business out there.
So he brought it here.
So I've been doing flooring installation
since, 94 and been buying it from him
since the start of this year.
So that's awesome. Yeah, for a long time.
Yeah, I've grown up in the industry
and. Yeah.
Absolutely. So doing well.
That's awesome.
And how do you, mostly work with,
do you work with, would you say
like homeowners more
so or like commercial.
So it's fluctuated over the years?
But yes, I think we deal
with more contractors and builders
more than anything.
We do work with homeowners directly.
And, and we do remodels
and things like that.
For sure.
But I think right now most of our work
is coming from a contractor.
A builder or even, designers.
Gotcha. That's awesome.
So today's episode,
we're really focusing on flooring,
which is great because the flooring
is perfect for this episode.
How long, have you been
a member of ProSource
and how has ProSource helped support
you and your clients?
Sure.
So DFC flooring,
like I said, was here in 94 and Omaha.
I think Prosource came to Omaha 94,
maybe 95.
I might be off right there, but,
I just talked to my dad
a little bit about it,
and he was actually in the Omaha area,
and Prosource had called him
and saying, hey, we're coming in.
Here's what we do. Here's who we are.
Are you interested in becoming a member?
And so he was my dad was one of
the first members at Prosource of Omaha.
Oh, wow. That's awesome.
Yeah.
So a long time, then. Yeah.
We've had a great relationship. Yeah.
With preservation.
So is there any, like, specific, ways
that ProSource helps DFC flooring?
Maybe more so than others?
I mean, the biggest thing I think
is the showroom.
Yeah, the salesmen are experts.
And what they have the product
that they have, and then the showroom
paired with,
you know, the knowledgeable salesman is
it's really easy to work with Prosource
send a customer, anybody.
They don't know what they want yet.
You know, they call us.
They got our name from a friend,
a neighbor, whatever.
We go out there
and you talk about their project.
I give them some ideas.
I tell them there's only a million options
out there. So.
So so I prosource
talk to the salesman here and,
you know, tell them exactly what told me.
I want something in the Grays,
you know, or the Browns or whatever.
And they'll help limit
the millions of options
down to a few
that you're going to really like.
Yeah, that's the big thing is it's
very overwhelming sometimes for people
going into the showroom like that.
Yeah.
So having someone there to kind of dwindle
their options down for you,
really helps because I know
that's been not a complaint, but,
something that people talk about
is they'll bring homeowners in
and they just like their eyes are like,
I don't know where to look
because there's so much.
There's too much in your face.
Yeah. Exactly. Encourage customers.
Google things
come up, bring up like the pictures
and inspirational photos
that you that you like,
and then the sales are more easily able
to pull something off the shelf.
You know, who knows where to go
get those and show you what.
And then you can determine, you know what
actually, I saw that I kind of like that.
But yeah, they'll they'll be able to limit
your options for you and
not make it so overwhelming.
But yes. Yeah.
If you want to look, there's,
you know, there's a ton of things
to look at there at the, in the showroom
a lot of time.
And they're certainly good. Yeah.
So laminate flooring
hasn't always had the best reputation.
What feedback
have you heard about laminate flooring
from home homeowners
or anyone you work with?
Looking to replace their floors?
Back in the day, when it was first
come out, I guess there's trying to be,
in competition to a wood floor
or a comparable to a
for a more economical, cheaper version
of a wood floor, to get the same look.
But it's, it's struggle
with certain different things.
So the biggest thing I know
with people with laminate from,
you know, two decades ago
nowadays are like, I don't want laminate
because it, you know, it was
I had in my bathroom, I had in my kitchen
and, and the water was a huge issue.
And so that's been something
that we've heard from homeowners
a lot with laminate. Now.
Limits come a long ways.
Running right behind it
and trying to be more waterproof,
water resistant and limit
might be a more economical choice.
Maybe it's a little bit cheaper
than on outlet,
but it still doesn't quite
have all the yeah, the benefits of let
and not not quite as durable,
but the reputation is
as it's always kind of been.
It's a laminate.
It's a look alike wood but not quite wood.
And that's what people kind of want a
what else can I get?
What else? Yeah.
There's the questions I get asked.
Know for sure.
I think it goes down to, you know,
if you want the higher quality product,
like you're going to
most of the time you're going
to have to spend more money, right?
If you're looking to maybe just do
like a house flip or a quick remodel.
Exactly.
Could be a good option for people
looking to do that.
But I'd say if you're a homeowner,
investing into the better
quality flooring is always going to be
the best option, right?
Yeah, I always tell them, you know, if
you get what you pay for, you know,
and it really is true in in flooring,
I mean, as far even as the material,
you know.
Yeah. Yes.
Prices are going up everywhere
across, you know, everywhere. But
you really still get what you pay for.
You know, you want to buy something
that's going to last you,
you're going to invest
a little bit of money into it.
So yeah. Yeah.
And if you want to end up working with,
like you said, having flooring issues
down the line, like in 20 years,
you're going to rip up the flooring
and see that there is a bunch of like,
mold.
I know my my grandparents just had
that issue actually with laminate.
So it's funny, we're talking about it.
You know, I don't even know
if they even picked the flooring
that initially went to that house,
but my mom just had to redo
all of their flooring.
Because there was
a bunch of mold underneath.
Like in the bathroom by the shower.
Yeah, yeah.
Going back to your point, there's
always a time and a place for flooring.
Like for laminate flooring, I would say.
And it's not for everybody.
It's not for every situation.
How have you seen the laminate
installation process evolve over time?
The installation process, it used to be
you know, we used to have these straps
and these clamps
and we'd have to glue all the edges
and clamp everything together and hold
all together.
It's still a floating floor back
in the day, but it was all glued together.
And you know, it's a couple day
process versus now it's a lot like.
And how it works.
It clicks together with the tongue
and groove and it locks itself together.
So yeah,
it has come a long ways in that aspect,
and it makes it a lot easier to install
than it ever used to be.
Yeah, probably a bit more DIY.
Certainly.
I would say we kind of already
touched on this a little bit.
But in what situations do you think
it's not ideal to use laminate
compared to other types of flooring
besides just your typical house flips?
Someone trying to just flip a house,
sell it?
We know that happens.
Are there any other situations
you could see maybe
someone would want to go with laminate
compared to other types of flooring?
Yeah, no laminate has.
It's not a terrible floor by any means.
There's, there's
there's something that's very comparable
and maybe just a pinch
more that I feel like
would be a
a lot more worth your, your dollar.
Yeah.
But in situations where like, it's
just one room, maybe not like,
like a formal dining,
we don't really have those anymore.
Every once you open concept.
But if you have a formal dining room
and you just need
to update the flooring in there,
you don't want to spend a ton of money.
Laminate would be perfect in there.
You know it would go with you know,
there's there's a ton of colors and sizes
and everything nowadays.
So it would be perfect in a room
that I would think wouldn't
be your main source of foot traffic.
Gotcha.
And maybe not
where there's like a bunch of water,
like the bathroom you're talking about.
Yeah, I know that.
That makes a ton of sense.
So with a focus on style in mind,
how have you seen
laminate become more fashionable
in the home over the years?
Some of the, complaints
I've heard is like it.
It's, for mica.
Look, it looks very dull and boring.
So they've come a long ways
with their printing or the finished
look looks more like a wood floor
now than it ever has before.
Not so fake. Not so like a printed color.
It's more of a natural looking wood color.
So. Yeah. Yeah, I've seen that.
And then the sizes, you know, you know,
how wide is the plank?
They're thin and thick
and gives you a little bit more variety.
So I feel like back years ago,
if I remember,
if you would look like it was just like
wallpaper on the flooring,
that's kind of what it would look like.
And now they're really,
I feel like with new technology,
you can see
there is more of like a texture.
It looks like there's texture,
it looks like a wood floor,
even though it's not.
Yeah, definitely come a long way.
What are some of your favorite current
trends in flooring in general?
So not even focusing just on laminate
but other kinds of flooring as well.
What are your favorite trends right now?
I really enjoy that.
They're exploring like, chevron looks
or herringbone looks and things like that,
because that was something that maybe
like a wood floor would have on, laminate
or other hard surfaces,
even tile, you can,
you can position
those into different designs
and things like that where these click
together floors are just straight across.
They're just left to right and install
which looks, you know,
it's timeless, it's gorgeous.
You know, it fits 99% of spaces,
but you don't get that little extra design
feature sometimes.
And so that's one of my one of the things
I like about them trying.
They do have herringbone
like click together floors.
You know there's an A and B
and you got to get them in there. Right.
They do have Chevron looking floors now.
So I mean I really enjoy that.
I like the like the light they're putting
everywhere that, you know, wood floors.
You should just be main level,
maybe just entry and dining and kitchen
kind of thing.
Now we're putting it everywhere.
The whole main floor bedroom is included.
Even the stairs, you know,
it's stairs are, you know, look amazing
with a hard surface on it.
And maybe even a stair runner
or something up a carpet runner.
But walls, you know, we can install
some of these floors on the walls.
Yeah.
So you wouldn't, you know, it just
gives it a something a little different.
And, it's an extra challenge,
I guess, for an installers perspective.
It's it's kind of fun
figuring out, well,
how am I going to get this to go vertical,
even like tile right now.
You can put up put that anywhere
backsplash, wall flooring
anywhere you would like.
So what advice would you offer homeowners
or anyone that is looking for a floor
that holds trends like herringbone?
Like you mentioned,
and those rectangular designs,
they're gorgeous,
but they're not for every situation.
That would be my biggest thing.
So they're not the layout.
But yeah,
so we don't want like in the photo
they're looking at their inspiration
photo. Google.
Those are perfect examples of exactly
what that for is designed for
or supposed to look like.
But not everybody's space is willing
to accept, you know, a herringbone floor.
Because sometimes we might have these
little tiny cuts, these little tiny pieces
along the wall or,
you know, there's there's
there's two hallways
or two ways around the island
and one's going to look centered,
and the other one's going to look like,
well, it's kind of.
Yeah.
So I guess the idea is really cool, but
it might not fit every single,
you know, space.
Yeah, the idea is neat.
Listen to some professionals
and get some ideas that way.
But, you know, maybe you could do a
like an inlay or something
of the herringbone
or add it in a different room.
If you wanted that look.
And this comes up a lot too,
when we're talking about like bathroom
remodels and homeowners
wanting to put in like specific showers
and bathtubs,
but they have like a wall sticking out
that's like, do you want to knock that
wall down to put this in?
Because that's a whole other project,
right? Yeah.
And that's what it comes down to flooring
sometimes too, like you mentioned,
if there's obstacles
in the way of that flooring,
it's like,
do you want to knock this wall down
to put that in,
or do you want to just exact something
else?
Well, and some of the biggest complaints
about all floating floors
is the transition pieces.
People really don't like them.
They're ugly.
There's there's some that
some manufacturers make really good ones
that are very minimal.
But that's the other thing
to keep in mind.
We have to break some of these sometimes,
and it just might not be the clean
look you're looking for.
It's a pretty product.
It's got the cool design, you want it,
but you're going to have these awkward,
weird little transitions here and there.
And it might not come out
as you're expecting.
Yeah, absolutely.
In your opinion,
when it comes to durability, what flooring
would you recommend overall durability.
When we're talking floating floors
I suppose so.
So everything you
do against like a wood floor,
if we're talking like you have pets.
You have dogs? Yeah. Big dogs,
a wood floor.
You're going to see the intense.
I said, scratching the surface.
But they're indenting the wood, kind
of growing your fingers through the sand.
And so the light reflects off of that,
and you can see that indent forever.
There's nothing you can really do.
You replace the boards. But
yeah, the dogs are around for ten years,
so it's not going to be fixed anyway.
Yeah, I know, but for
you know, is a little more resilient.
It'll
hold up against some of those indents.
The you won't see the scratches,
they won't scratch it nearly as easy.
And they certainly won't indent it
like a wood floor.
Now it doesn't make it 100% scratch proof.
And my, you know, experience,
you can't push your fridge
across that sideways
and expect it not to scratch the floor.
Now, some laminates
I do know have a different surface,
maybe not quite the textured or, you know,
they're maybe a little bit smoother.
And it,
it would
be, it might fight against the scratch
a little bit more than an lt would
but I do know like it laminate might chip
in the corners a little bit easier.
It's a little bit more rigid.
Doesn't have so much give into it
like an Lt forward.
So yeah it's first the ability.
There's there's a give and take
and I think lt takes
that takes the cake though as far as
all the way around, it's pretty durable.
It can go in wet locations
and, you know, it floats against the foot
traffic, the rocks coming in on your feet
in the winter, the pets.
So I just,
I would say like hardwood especially,
we have hardwood in our home
and we, have a dog, a senior dog.
So we try to keep them away
from the hardwood
when we're not home
in case there is an accident,
because it is hard to clean
up, like you said.
Certainly if we had elves,
maybe that would be a little bit easier.
Do you think that it depends on
the brand too?
Was like,
are other brands better than others
that come back to some of those issues?
Certainly.
So I think like, talking laminate
to white laminate
might be a little bit more cost effective
and then Lt
but then in both of those
there's going to be a good better best.
Yeah. And the price range
will reflect that as well.
Certainly there are products
we we really enjoy working with
and they're all product.
It's like yeah okay.
It'll be yeah it'll work.
We'll get it out.
But yeah.
So with your experiences in mind,
how has ProSource
helped elevate flooring for your clients?
Yeah. So like we talked about earlier,
just being
able to have that showroom available,
you know the options.
Yeah. All the options.
So anybody that calls DFC,
anybody that I talk to
that needs ideas and needs some flooring,
it's very easy to talk to them about,
you know,
what they need, what they can do.
I see the space
you know, give them options on you know,
sometimes we, you know, like a floor
might need to be flattened or something.
And you know, maybe a floating floor
might not be the best option.
Or maybe it is.
Regardless,
maybe we just put carpet in there.
Doesn't matter.
Send them to ProSource.
I'll have a conversation with a customer.
They can have ideas.
At least walk into ProSource
tell that, salesman
what they're thinking, what we discussed,
and, you know, they got the whole
showroom to take a look at
and to come up with an idea of what they,
what they want to put in their space.
So, yeah, again, the knowledgeable
salesman and the showroom is huge,
makes things very easy.
And so within
like the last 20 or 30 years,
sustainability
has definitely come to the forefront.
And a lot of brands
and a lot of the decision making
when it comes to doing a home remodel,
do you see that in your clients that is at
the forefront of their decision making?
A lot of the time,
a lot of the times
we do, in my experience,
because like I said, we deal
with a lot of contractors and builders,
so let's bring it home
that, you know, these homeowners
don't want their flooring
to, you know, be nothing in a year or two.
They want it to last a decade.
It's supposed to last.
So they want to protect their investment.
There are those,
you know, the home flippers.
It's kind of a big fan of it
now, too, that they just want to just
spin it quick and,
you know, so they might not be looking
at that nearly as closely,
but I'd say 90% of the customers
that I talk to,
you know,
because everybody's spending money,
no matter what it is,
whether it'll be a little or a lot,
they don't want it to they don't want
be spending more money on that floor again
anytime soon.
Yeah.
And what about, like,
like eco friendly products?
Is that something
a lot of people think about?
Or are you maybe just a small group of
your clients are considered?
Maybe a small group? Yeah.
Nobody ever comes out and says that we do.
Yeah.
Like we recycle our pad and they're like,
oh that's nice.
Yeah, that's all they know.
So yeah, nobody specifically asked.
I might have 1 or 2 people a year maybe.
Yeah.
So what do you do with all this, Tara?
What do you do with this
or what do you know.
That's, you know, maybe, you know,
a little bit more eco friendly.
So there are companies out there
that are a lot really focused on that.
And those customers already
have found those suppliers
maybe, and things like that.
Yeah.
Before they find us,
I would say even like a lot of
brands are already focusing on that.
Right.
So I agree, I feel like in today's world,
a lot of homeowners,
your clients are probably already
thinking like, okay,
engineered floors,
they're already thinking about the eco
friendly side of things or whatever
brand it is.
So that's probably a lot of it
to a lot of people
probably aren't
going to come out and say it.
They're just assuming that the brands
have the best intention.
Exactly. Yeah, yeah.
So heading into 2025,
which is crazy to think about,
are there any technological advancements
that we should be keeping an eye out
for in the world of flooring
that you are thinking about?
I like the that they're challenging,
the industry, the elevators
and the maintenance of floating floors.
They're they're getting giant sizes.
And in smaller sizes
they're, they're adding like
a ceramic coating on the top
or making a stone top.
And I think that's,
that's always very encouraging to continue
to be challenging the industry.
Challenging.
You know, what are the limitations
of some of this flooring and
what other designs can we come up with?
And so I don't
I don't see that slowing down at all.
You see them continuing to the,
you know, work on that
and see what else they can come up with.
And one of the cool designs
or other cool features that can they add
to this, this floating floor especially.
That is all the craze right now.
Absolutely. Yeah.
Especially in the world
of like social media.
If you if you do have something wrong
with your product, people are going
to be really quick to go online
and bash it so fast.
Yeah. And yes.
And yeah, that's the last thing
these brands want, right?
They want to be able to be a competition
because yeah word of mouth is everything.
So yeah I completely agree with you there.
I think it's going to keep
flooring is just going to keep changing
and advancing as there's other competition
coming against certain brands.
So yeah.
Yeah, healthy competition is great
especially in our industry here.
Yes, absolutely.
Well thank you so much for coming on
today, Owen.
Absolutely. We really appreciate you
sharing your expertise.
And yeah,
just participating in today's episode.
Thank you so much and my pleasure.
Thanks for having me. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you for joining us today
on The ProSource Podcast.
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wherever you get your podcast.
Also, follow us on social media.
Check out our website
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